City of Subiaco crime drop linked to council’s plan

The Community Safety Crime Prevention Plan 2014-16 led to a 10 per cent reduction on average compared with the previous four years.

A community perception survey conducted by the City also showed a 10 per cent increase in the number of residents being satisfied with safety and security in Subiaco and the control of vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

The City is now hoping to further reduce crime statistics through the help of the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Plan 2016-20.

Chief executive Don Burnett said the City’s initiatives were directly targeted at reducing crime in the area.

“The Community Safety Crime Prevention Plan 2014-16 was a wide-ranging plan including 41 actions ranging across five of the City’s six focus areas,” he said.

“Although a direct link cannot be made between any particular action and a reduction in crime, these actions were designed to support each other and to work with WA Police and the community stakeholders in a community-wide approach to reduce crime.”

Wembley Police Senior Sergeant Julie Foley said the police were working with the City to reduce crime.

“We’ve had regular meetings with the City and discussed known crime issues and are taking a collaborative approach to deal with them,” she said.

Mr Burnett said the new plan for 2016-20 would apply the learning of the 2014-16 plan and target them over a longer period.

He said he hoped the plan would increase the percentage of residents who felt safe in Subiaco.

“In the new plan there’s an increased focus on the top five crimes (as identified in WA Police statistics) that occur in Subiaco, as well as a method to track crimes on a quarterly rather than annual basis,” he said

“This will allow the City and WA police to react more quickly to short-term increases in particular types of crime, implementing projects designed to halt crime spikes in its tracks.

“We will also focus more closely on traffic crashes in an attempt to reduce injuries on our road… the City is moving towards a focus on identifying community and family avoidance of public spaces and places due to the perception that they are unsafe or risky.”

The City of Subiaco is seeking feedback on the draft Community Safety and Crime Prevention Plan 2016-2020 until Monday 19 September.

To review the plan and make a comment visit http://haveyoursaysubiaco.com.au/community-safety-2016.